As technology continues to evolve at an exponential rate, point of sale is developing to correspond with customer’s expectations of speed and efficiency. The shift from traditional high street and in-store shopping, to online shopping, represents a demand for convenience.  The rise of internet speeds, web-enabled mobile phones and the increase in the use of tablets like the Nexus and iPads; is good news for online retailers, but creates a separate issue of optimisation across channels.

The issue of Conversion Rate Optimisation across different platforms and technology is the subject of many articles, and many tutorials; however less is written about integration across platforms.  Over the past 5 years, in order to meet customers’ preferences and to increase efficiency, a number of retailers have launched online kiosks in store.

The kiosks are able to provide the customers with detailed brand and product information at the touch of a button (or maybe a few buttons).  They can also check availability of specific products and many kiosks now come complete with chip and pin technology, so that customers can effectively ‘self-serve’ themselves, and potentially avoid long queues and delays that are often seen in busy retails outlets.  They can also potentially be integrated with mobile phones, remembering customer details, and even enabling customers to use coupons found online.

In the aftermath of the last British recession, people are demanding more product information and specifications before making a purchase. Kiosks are an ideal way of providing instant access to this information without over-stretching resources in terms of staff time and availability.   In addition some larger stores stock thousands of products; with dozens available for a given purpose.

Kiosks can help people follow simple questions, and narrow down results to give one, or several products that perfectly fit the customer’s individual needs and requirements.

Kiosks can also provide retailers with additional information to fill their ever-expanding database of customer data.  Customer journeys and ‘bottlenecks’ now have a whole new dimension; as does Conversion Rate Optimisation.

This information can be applied relatively easily, as most e-commerce kiosks can be updated with relative ease. Are in-store kiosks the Sales Assistants of the future?  Hopefully not literally, but they can certainly be used to streamline store processes and optimise sales figures.